The fictional town in A Little to the East, the novel by Robert Cenadella that Their Own Executioners comes from, is based on Cenedella's hometown of Milford, Massachusetts. In the early 1900s, Milford's shoe factories and granite quarry attracted a large influx of Italian and Irish immigrant laborers. Though they worked and lived side by side, there was still a division between the townspeople, who ultimately erected two large Catholic churches - one for the Italian community and one for the Irish. Newer generations felt that division far less, however. Cenedella's novel touches on the tensions between the two communities, and the changing old world attitudes, as does Their Own Executioners. Some of the character names are taken from actual people from Milford.